Basketball's Euroleague has its first quarter-finalists, as CSKA Moscow thrashed Olympiacos 96-64 to secure their berth in the next stage with a game to spare.

­A win in Moscow would have made the Army Men unreachable in the Group E table, with one game remaining.

And CSKA never looked like passing up the opportunity, going10-0 up from the start before carrying a commanding 28 point lead by half time.

Olympiacos responded to produce an even third period. But CSKA rounded off an easy 32-point win, with Andrey Vorontsevich leading the scorers with 15 points.

“First of all, I would like to thank the fans for tremendous support we received,” Jonas Kazlauskas, CSKA head coach, told the club’s official website. “It was a pleasure to play on our arena tonight. I am very glad for our guys who focused on the game very well, especially considering that it was one of the most important games on this stage of the season.”

CSKA’s strong performance makes Muscovites one of the main favorites of the current Euroleague, which will culminate in the Istanbul finals in May.